Design Engineer Review

Work was really enjoyable it helped me to decide what career I wanted. I enjoyed the community aspect of work, the various volunteering roles and giving back to the community. I feel I have grown as a person because of my experience there. There was a steep learning curve at the start as it was an industry I knew nothing about. However, as time went on I picked up the industry knowledge and the experience I will take with me to need jobs.

At the start I was very overwhelmed there were many people on site (over 200 employees) but as the months went on I did feel included and even did activities outside of work with my colleagues. Most of the immediate work friends I have kept in touch with. As well as expanding my network on Linkedin I never felt like the work I was doing was dummy work or just work they gave to interns. The projects and tasks I was doing I good see the impact first hand.

Support was great I really felt looked after at each step. From arriving I was briefed on on-site ethics, health and safety and was given two-hour sessions with each department of the site. This not only allowed me to navigate the site better but I also made connections and was able to put faces to the people I was emailing. Feedback was key for me as I wanted to learn, I express this with my manager early on which lead to weekly meetings that were helpful as I could demonstrate what I had achieved each week and I could also receive feedback with my progress.

Most days I had something I could do, yes there were down points where I had little work and my manager was away or busy but I was always able to keep myself productive. Or went as asked other engineers if there was anything I was able to do. This was helpful as it meant I learnt more on the job as was using the time productively. As time went on I got given more responsibility which in turn lead to more workload which was good.

As perviously mentioned at the start of my placement I wasn't given jobs with a great deal of responsibility but I did receive work that was making an impact to the business. as the placement progressed I received more work with greater responsibility and even had to have training courses to qualify me to progress further with projects. I feel it was a good balance though as If I was thrown into the deep end straight away I was ould be too overwhelmed and stressed.

I feel my time there was very productive, I not only learnt a lot of engineering skills such as C programming, AutoCAD and PCB development. I also learnt an entirely new industry which I had never experienced before. This also improved my business skills I was able to see how business works from the inside, how to progress and how to develop myself. I also had the opportunity to see the hiring process which was a real insight into the managerial mindset, what to look for in a candidate. This will allow me to walk into another interview or assessment centre with a toolkit to get hired.

The office atmosphere was great there was a great deal of productiveness but also a happy environment. We could joke or have a brief chat about sports, films etc but still be able to get on with the work. People celebrated others birthdays and celebrated other achievements which made a warm atmosphere. There was also an element of calm as you knew you could talk to anyone or ask for help and everyone was happy to help no matter how little or big the task.

As this wasn't the first year of the company having interns there was a well-organized plan for the internship. There was a welcome event where all the interns had a chance to meet and socialize. There were planned training days with professional outsourced training. The year was well structured with plans each step of the way allowing the interns to develop seamlessly and have a constant work flow. There wasn't a moment I thought it was unorganised.

There was training each step of the way from safety training including onsite manufacturing training. Ethic training and "Eaton University" where you could pick and choose extra courses if you felt they benefitted you. For example, if you needed Microsoft help there was a video course to help. I felt I could ask my manager to go on a training course and along with as it benefitted me and the company there were happy to allow the course

I feel Eaton has a lot to offer and there are different sites that are entirely different industries that are interesting. The grad scheme is very appealing with the ability to travel and live in another country. I wouldn't say no to future prospects with Eaton. However now I have experienced inside the business world and seen the business model first hand I am looking to explore other prospects, compare other companies and see new industries.

There was a good social scene amongst fellow colleagues some I consider friends after my placement. I felt the whole site has a friendly vibe. On some occasions we did activities outside work like nights out, go karting, and went for meals. This allowed use to strengthen the relationships with the people I worked with. There was also charity events like fancy dress which was always a laugh, bake sales and the occasional racetrack visit.

I was based in doncaster and I thought the cost of living was quite good, I am used to the city centre prices from uni so living not quite in a city of town centre seemed cheaper for me. This was nice though as it meant I got afford a greater housing and better gym memberships without out feeling put out. The town centre was like everyother town centre with the usual suspect of shops with similar prices around the country.

The nightlife was really my scene. There were quite a few places to go so it did have variety it just felt a bit rough. There was a night clud district but the better times was spent in pubs or doing pub crawls.

There were many opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work. A few of my colleagues were active gym-goers and the local gym held classes that we would all sign up for together. The company also had offers with the local Doncaster racecourse with meant we got half-price tickets which were good because we got all dressed up and had nights out at the races. We also a orgained go kart trips and meals out everynow and then.